NEW PRODUCT: HOT TOYS: STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH™ ANAKIN SKYWALKER™ 1/6TH SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE

Stryker2012 wrote:I’m just glad I got one for Sky. Always happy to help folks get a Grail figure.

I really do wish ill for Howard and Sideshow for this sort of eBay style lottery.

Ditto.

csyeung wrote:yes it sucks to hear that some were kicked to the back of the queue due to technical problems. If you need to verify address or payment, you will get kicked out of queue

Good to know. They really should have foreseen this.

Yeah that artificial limiting of figures is real bad. Just do a 2 days preorder window and see how many want it and then produce that many. No lottery system. 

Luckily it wasn't a grail for me but still feel annoyed by that system and feel bad for all the real fans who wnated one for non-ebay prices.

Ha. So I kept waiting to get put on the waitlist, and when it redirected me to do it, it told me "
Your queue number is no longer valid
Queue numbers are only valid for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, your queue number has now expired."
Yep, they are bastards.

i got 10 mins still before i can waitlist! heheh. I do agree with you Valiarde, they should have a window. I personally don't mind if I have to wait if it's a larger production line and takes longer.

GubernatorFan wrote:Ha. So I kept waiting to get put on the waitlist, and when it redirected me to do it, it told me "
Your queue number is no longer valid
Queue numbers are only valid for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, your queue number has now expired."
Yep, they are bastards.

CORRECTION (?)
So I followed the prompt to get a new queue number, it made me wait another minute, then asked for my login info, and then loaded up the preorder page with the wait list button stating "You're on the Waitlist."
I've given up trying to make sense of this...

Sometimes I want to get into 1/6 scale but after things like this...
This was probably worse than Mezco exclusives (which I didn't think was possible).

At least watching this saga of people trying to secure their Anakin Skywalker was emotionally fulfilling.

Which brings me to the next point: I'm glad that skywalkersaga is getting her Anakin after all. Congrats, Sky!

Stryker2012 wrote:I’m just glad I got one for Sky. Always happy to help folks get a Grail figure.

I really do wish ill for Howard and Sideshow for this sort of eBay style lottery.

Thank you so much for jumping in the queue to help me out -- Stryker saves the day!  And what a stressful day this was.... I had everything planned perfectly, was in the queue, had a good number... then some real life insanity happened. That is the reality of running an animal care business out of my house. I was beside myself thinking I missed it (sorry for everyone else who struggled as well), but I'm so incredibly relieved you managed to score one!

Just want to say thank you to everyone who gave tips and advice. Hope others who missed out will get a chance on the waitlist....

Wow... Just reading through the comments was hectic.

I hate when companies limit and put collectors through this garbage of a process. Horrible trolls they are. As others stated, it would have been more fair if they did a made to order window. At least give those that want one an actual chance of getting one.

I know it must have been stressful for those that tried to get one. Hopefully no scalpers got them. I'm glad to hear Stryker was able to help get Sky her Holy Grail. Awesome! It's great to see this and I seriously needed that uplifting good news. 

I would've tried to help, but this week has been nightmarish. Cat of 20 years (3 days shy of her 21st) had to be put down due to complete kidney failure and organs failing. On top of needing to find someone to fix cracks on the external side wall of the house. A tree that needs to be cut down, but requires a permit first due to its size, car that needs servicing... It's been mentally draining to say the least.

I miss the little one... Despite knowing it was inevitable as she had CKD for close to 3 years, it still hurts.

doodlehobby wrote:Wow... Just reading through the comments was hectic.

I hate when companies limit and put collectors through this garbage of a process. Horrible trolls they are. As others stated, it would have been more fair if they did a made to order window. At least give those that want one an actual chance of getting one.

I know it must have been stressful for those that tried to get one. Hopefully no scalpers got them. I'm glad to hear Stryker was able to help get Sky her Holy Grail. Awesome! It's great to see this and I seriously needed that uplifting good news. 

Agree that this method seems unnecessarily stressful. I also think it's incredibly unfair because it seems to favour the type of collector who just wants to own whatever is the most 'top' figure or most sought after figure at a given time, rather than true fans of the character. I say this because I now have to go break the news to my fandom friends that this figure sold out almost insantly, and I bet most of them will have missed out since they aren't 'collectors' who know how to navigate Sideshow, they are just Anakin fans.

doodlehobby wrote:I would've tried to help, but this week has been nightmarish. Cat of 20 years (3 days shy of her 21st) had to be put down due to complete kidney failure and organs failing. On top of needing to find someone to fix cracks on the external side wall of the house. A tree that needs to be cut down, but requires a permit first due to its size, car that needs servicing... It's been mentally draining to say the least.

I miss the little one... Despite knowing it was inevitable as she had CKD for close to 3 years, it still hurts.

I'm so sorry to hear this. Losing a beloved animal friend is hard enough as it is... but 20 years? That's such a long time, what a hole in your heart that must be. I lost both my beloved dogs over the past two years and I'm still reeling from it. * hugs to you *

Sorry to hear about your furry friend, DH. That’s rough. But, you no doubt gave her a good life.

Well done Stryker and Skywalkersaga, so relieved to hear. I’ve had onlooker anxiety! What a palaver......such a stressful process.
And big thoughts to doodlehobby on your cat (as well as other stresses). Like skywalkersaga I also lost my beloved dogs over recent years and it is so gut wrenching, still feel their absence every day.

Sorry to hear about your cat Doodlehobby.

* hugs to you too, Tanzenwolfe*


Wondering what happened with Diana.... I remember she was going to try to get one...

Heey!! Phew! Glad you got one! I didn't think of it even one moment while I was on my good friend's birthday party. My phone didn't alert me as planned...

I'm quite disgusted by the whole process. I wonder whether announcing a limit actually increases interest, or whether a limited PO-window would end up with about the same number of pre-orders. And whether any potential difference in these numbers justifies this stressful experience. I doubt it.

Diana wrote:Heey!! Phew! Glad you got one! I didn't think of it even one moment while I was on my good friend's  birthday party. My phone didn't alert me as planned...

I'm quite disgusted by the whole process. I wonder whether announcing a limit actually increases interest, or whether a limited PO-window would end up with about the same number of pre-orders. And whether any potential difference in these numbers justifies this stressful experience. I doubt it.

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry you missed it. For what it's worth, my phone didn't send any notification either... I was expecting a text, but only ever got an email notification (which for most people would have been too late as, iirc, the figure was already mostly sold out by the time that email even arrived).

And you are probably right that the hype about it being 'limited' increases the interest, especially for the more, uh, 'competitive' collector types. I don't mean to sound disparaging as everyone approaches their collections in different ways, but the amount of collectors I saw on Youtube talking about the Anakin figure as if it were just some 'prize' they wanted to win simply for the sake of winning it, rather than anything to do with the figure itself (or character, for that matter)....well, it was frustrating to say the least. And I think hyping it up and making it so exclusive was playing directly into that kind of mentality. I get that this type of figure can't be as mass produced as the others, but the way Sideshow and HT went about the pre-order process seemed to make it a foregone conclusion that many people who truly wanted it would end up disappointed.

The only way I'm ever doing this again is if they ended up making an Artisan Padme figure.... but ONLY because I know from experience how isanely difficult her hairstyles are to replicate in 1/6 form, so it would be something that would be worth the hassle to attempt to acquire.

skywalkersaga wrote:

Diana wrote:Heey!! Phew! Glad you got one! I didn't think of it even one moment while I was on my good friend's  birthday party. My phone didn't alert me as planned...

I'm quite disgusted by the whole process. I wonder whether announcing a limit actually increases interest, or whether a limited PO-window would end up with about the same number of pre-orders. And whether any potential difference in these numbers justifies this stressful experience. I doubt it.

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry you missed it. For what it's worth, my phone didn't send any notification either... I was expecting a text, but only ever got an email notification (which for most people would have been too late as, iirc, the figure was already mostly sold out by the time that email even arrived).

And you are probably right that the hype about it being 'limited' increases the interest, especially for the more, uh, 'competitive' collector types. I don't mean to sound disparaging as everyone approaches their collections in different ways, but the amount of collectors I saw on Youtube talking about the Anakin figure as if it were just some 'prize' they wanted to win simply for the sake of winning it, rather than anything to do with the figure itself (or character, for that matter)....well, it was frustrating to say the least. And I think hyping it up and making it so exclusive was playing directly into that kind of mentality. I get that this type of figure can't be as mass produced as the others, but the way Sideshow and HT went about the pre-order process seemed to make it a foregone conclusion that many people who truly wanted it would end up disappointed.

The only way I'm ever doing this again is if they ended up making an Artisan Padme figure.... but ONLY because I know from experience how isanely difficult her hairstyles are to replicate in 1/6 form, so it would be something that would be worth the hassle to attempt to acquire.

I never even received any email from Sideshow. And I forgot that the reminder I set up on my phone would only come in as a notification. I should have set an alarm of course. Oh well.
I hope they will release a matching Padme.

Diana wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Diana wrote:Heey!! Phew! Glad you got one! I didn't think of it even one moment while I was on my good friend's  birthday party. My phone didn't alert me as planned...

I'm quite disgusted by the whole process. I wonder whether announcing a limit actually increases interest, or whether a limited PO-window would end up with about the same number of pre-orders. And whether any potential difference in these numbers justifies this stressful experience. I doubt it.

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry you missed it. For what it's worth, my phone didn't send any notification either... I was expecting a text, but only ever got an email notification (which for most people would have been too late as, iirc, the figure was already mostly sold out by the time that email even arrived).

And you are probably right that the hype about it being 'limited' increases the interest, especially for the more, uh, 'competitive' collector types. I don't mean to sound disparaging as everyone approaches their collections in different ways, but the amount of collectors I saw on Youtube talking about the Anakin figure as if it were just some 'prize' they wanted to win simply for the sake of winning it, rather than anything to do with the figure itself (or character, for that matter)....well, it was frustrating to say the least. And I think hyping it up and making it so exclusive was playing directly into that kind of mentality. I get that this type of figure can't be as mass produced as the others, but the way Sideshow and HT went about the pre-order process seemed to make it a foregone conclusion that many people who truly wanted it would end up disappointed.

The only way I'm ever doing this again is if they ended up making an Artisan Padme figure.... but ONLY because I know from experience how isanely difficult her hairstyles are to replicate in 1/6 form, so it would be something that would be worth the hassle to attempt to acquire.

I never even received any email from Sideshow. And I forgot that the reminder I set up on my phone would only come in as a notification. I should have set an alarm of course. Oh well.
I hope they will release a matching Padme.

Hope so too, we'll see...

And at least you got the InArt Aragorn, right?? That one looks absolutely incredible!

skywalkersaga wrote:

Diana wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Diana wrote:Heey!! Phew! Glad you got one! I didn't think of it even one moment while I was on my good friend's  birthday party. My phone didn't alert me as planned...

I'm quite disgusted by the whole process. I wonder whether announcing a limit actually increases interest, or whether a limited PO-window would end up with about the same number of pre-orders. And whether any potential difference in these numbers justifies this stressful experience. I doubt it.

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry you missed it. For what it's worth, my phone didn't send any notification either... I was expecting a text, but only ever got an email notification (which for most people would have been too late as, iirc, the figure was already mostly sold out by the time that email even arrived).

And you are probably right that the hype about it being 'limited' increases the interest, especially for the more, uh, 'competitive' collector types. I don't mean to sound disparaging as everyone approaches their collections in different ways, but the amount of collectors I saw on Youtube talking about the Anakin figure as if it were just some 'prize' they wanted to win simply for the sake of winning it, rather than anything to do with the figure itself (or character, for that matter)....well, it was frustrating to say the least. And I think hyping it up and making it so exclusive was playing directly into that kind of mentality. I get that this type of figure can't be as mass produced as the others, but the way Sideshow and HT went about the pre-order process seemed to make it a foregone conclusion that many people who truly wanted it would end up disappointed.

The only way I'm ever doing this again is if they ended up making an Artisan Padme figure.... but ONLY because I know from experience how isanely difficult her hairstyles are to replicate in 1/6 form, so it would be something that would be worth the hassle to attempt to acquire.

I never even received any email from Sideshow. And I forgot that the reminder I set up on my phone would only come in as a notification. I should have set an alarm of course. Oh well.
I hope they will release a matching Padme.

Hope so too, we'll see...

And at least you got the InArt Aragorn, right?? That one looks absolutely incredible!

YES!! So stoked!! My first high end figure.

Diana wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Diana wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Diana wrote:Heey!! Phew! Glad you got one! I didn't think of it even one moment while I was on my good friend's  birthday party. My phone didn't alert me as planned...

I'm quite disgusted by the whole process. I wonder whether announcing a limit actually increases interest, or whether a limited PO-window would end up with about the same number of pre-orders. And whether any potential difference in these numbers justifies this stressful experience. I doubt it.

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry you missed it. For what it's worth, my phone didn't send any notification either... I was expecting a text, but only ever got an email notification (which for most people would have been too late as, iirc, the figure was already mostly sold out by the time that email even arrived).

And you are probably right that the hype about it being 'limited' increases the interest, especially for the more, uh, 'competitive' collector types. I don't mean to sound disparaging as everyone approaches their collections in different ways, but the amount of collectors I saw on Youtube talking about the Anakin figure as if it were just some 'prize' they wanted to win simply for the sake of winning it, rather than anything to do with the figure itself (or character, for that matter)....well, it was frustrating to say the least. And I think hyping it up and making it so exclusive was playing directly into that kind of mentality. I get that this type of figure can't be as mass produced as the others, but the way Sideshow and HT went about the pre-order process seemed to make it a foregone conclusion that many people who truly wanted it would end up disappointed.

The only way I'm ever doing this again is if they ended up making an Artisan Padme figure.... but ONLY because I know from experience how isanely difficult her hairstyles are to replicate in 1/6 form, so it would be something that would be worth the hassle to attempt to acquire.

I never even received any email from Sideshow. And I forgot that the reminder I set up on my phone would only come in as a notification. I should have set an alarm of course. Oh well.
I hope they will release a matching Padme.

Hope so too, we'll see...

And at least you got the InArt Aragorn, right?? That one looks absolutely incredible!

YES!! So stoked!! My first high end figure.

Awesome. I can't wait to see your photos of him!

(And likewise, will certainly share pics of this Anakin once he arrives...)

I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of these were acquired by the worst of humanity (next to murderers, child molesters, rapists, lawyers, and career politicians) — scalpers! That being said, at one point the number of people in the queue was over 10,000 — so, yeah, doing it this way was guaranteed sales, and selling out of them, but looking at the number of people over at the Freaks who missed out and were pissed was pretty surprising. It left a pretty sour taste in those people’s mouths, as it did even for those who DID manage to get one. What’s also concerning about the quick sell out is what happens if the quality control is hit or miss and some folks end up with a miss — Will there be replacement parts available? Or are they just screwed? They could have done this the same way InArt has done their figures and just had a limited PO window.

Edit: I didn’t get the email notification until it was already in the midst of it happening. Luckily, I had set my phone alarm so I had time to get my butt back in the house to get on two devices; ended up getting the one for Sky thru my iPad (which, coincidentally, many people said don’t use tablets or phones, and only use desktops — well, my desktop had me so far over the limited number of these [3000] that I didn’t stand a chance on that device).

Wow, yeah, I don't blame people for being upset. The whole thing was a Sh*tshow (pun intended).

The quality control is something that I have been wondering about. While I personally won't be too bothered if I end up with one with messed up hair (since I don't mind tinkering with that sort of thing), I imagine there will be plenty of collectors who expect their figure to be picture perfect upon arrival who may end up really frustrated. For me, as long as I get this *headsculpt* (and presuming it has a decent paintjob), I'm cool with the rest and can cross that bridge when we come to it. But I know that's not everyone's attitude.

I think, however, people also need to have realistic expectations. If this is tibetan lambs wool (which it looks like, to my eye), then it does require maintenance and will sometimes 'poof' up a bit. This can be fixed, but I predict some who don't have experience with this material might be pissed off if it doesn't look exactly like the promo pics.

Makes me curious as to what, if any, types of tools and/or products they might include to help collectors maintain the hairstyle...

I think Sh*tshow should be Sideshow’s new name going forward. Good call.

What I really don't understand is this: at $410, this is an expensive but not impossibly so (by Hot Toys standards) figure. Why make it so exclusive and put would-be buyers through such hoops? They could have easily sold 8000 of them, and probably more (as Mark pointed out, the people in queue were at least 10000). Are people buying these at this price only because there are only 3000 of them? Maybe I was raised right, but I don't find any measure of pleasure in having something that is purposefully denied to someone else. If they are smart (and we already know they are willing to be shady in various ways), they will make sure that everyone on the waiting list gets a chance to buy, without worrying too much if the final production run remains at 3000 (or whatever the official number). It would be dishonest, but at least more customers would be satisfied.

GubernatorFan wrote:What I really don't understand is this: at $410, this is an expensive but not impossibly so (by Hot Toys standards) figure. Why make it so exclusive and put would-be buyers through such hoops? They could have easily sold 8000 of them, and probably more (as Mark pointed out, the people in queue were at least 10000). Are people buying these at this price only because there are only 3000 of them? Maybe I was raised right, but I don't find any measure of pleasure in having something that is purposefully denied to someone else. If they are smart (and we already know they are willing to be shady in various ways), they will make sure that everyone on the waiting list gets a chance to buy, without worrying too much if the final production run remains at 3000 (or whatever the official number). It would be dishonest, but at least more customers would be satisfied.

I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes at Hot Toys or Sideshow, but I would not be surprised if in the next few months they will do ANOTHER 'limited piece' run of a Dark Side version of this figure.

skywalkersaga wrote:
I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes at Hot Toys or Sideshow, but I would not be surprised if in the next few months they will do ANOTHER 'limited piece' run of a Dark Side version of this figure.

Agreed. And then a few months after that, an exclusive with two heads, one Dark, one Light.

MAybe the hairing part is what makes it troublesome to do as much as normal versions? Well at least until they find a bigger rooting team. Just speculation on my part though.
I expect to see more rooted figures in bigger amounts in the future.

Valiarde wrote:MAybe the hairing part is what makes it troublesome to do as much as normal versions? Well at least until they find a bigger rooting team. Just speculation on my part though.
I expect to see more rooted figures in bigger amounts in the future.

I'm sure that is part of it. I think it is the turn around time, this type of work isn't something you can just churn out. So a bigger run would take longer to arrive, perhaps.

While part of me hopes you are right that there will be more rooted pieces, I actually kind of begrudge giving that sort of money to Hot Toys for that type of thing. I know so many professional 1/6 hair artists and would much prefer to give them business to re-hair one of my figures, so that I'd have a one-of-a-kind piece. Or do it myself, even. The appeal of this Anakin for me was almost entirely the sculpt itself, since it's the best likeness of RotS Anakin I've seen in this scale so far. I would have still jumped on it even if it were 'just' a sculpted hair version. Even though I'm also somewhat salty about that, too -- because, why couldn't they have just done him justice in the first place??? Should have had a headsculpt this good for the original version that came out back in 2018.

But... alas, it wasn't so. So I was happy to make do with the old one when I thought it was the best official version we'd get. And now...here we are.

skywalkersaga wrote:* hugs to you too, Tanzenwolfe*  


Wondering what happened with Diana.... I remember she was going to try to get one...

Back to you, thank you!

I feel for all the time and stress of those who tried this option and missed out…. Hope the re-run options will happen and they are training up more rooting technicians as we speak…. Assuming it is rooted, not even sure how they do the hair..? Maybe it is hand harvested from a yak half way up the Himalayas….

Lol! I believe it is Tibetan lamb hair, which is commonly used for this scale. When I do it, I tend to just glue the hair directly onto a bald head, but since this says ‘rooted’ I suppose it’s possible they could have also added some holes or indentations to root it into.

I’m wondering what type of product they will use on it to hold the style in place. My go-to is liquid wax, but we’ll just have to see…